Escape the Night (31 page)

They paused to close the door of Casa Madrone. Their hands touched upon the worn, old latch there in the gentle darkness. Perhaps their hands would meet there many times, when peace came, when sadness was a thing forgotten, when sunshine and love lay within the old house again. Jem said, low in the dusk: “I’ll be leaving next week, Serena. Orders came today. I called you just now. You said, ‘I’m here, Jem.’ I’d like to remember that and—and hold to it while I’m gone. And always.”

She turned her hand upward within his. “I’ll be here, Jem. When you want me. Always.”

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

copyright © 1944 by Mignon G. Eberhart

copyright in Canada, 1944 by Mignon G. Eberhart

copyright 1943, 1944, by The Curtis Publishing Company

cover design by Heidi North

978-1-4532-5732-6

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